


Mending

by magicianlogician12



Series: Some Kind of Emotion [1]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/F, Pre-relationship injury-tending fluff, Redeemed Vaylin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 04:22:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12623092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicianlogician12/pseuds/magicianlogician12
Summary: Sethali and Vaylin share a quiet moment of healing after a battle.





	Mending

“You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.” Sethali said quietly, mildly chastising.

Vaylin’s upper robe had been removed to expose her arms and lay draped across a chair in the medical bay, just off Odessen’s main base–small pieces of shrapnel were scattered over the tattooed flesh and sluggishly oozed blood. “It’s only pain.” Vaylin replied flatly, staring at the marks and refusing to meet Sethali’s eyes.

It should have been worse. Vaylin  _should_  have seen the shrapnel bomb coming, even from her back, but hadn’t, and the only reason it wasn’t worse was because Sethali’s ballistic shield–dropped as a precaution several minutes before–had taken the brunt of the impact. Vaylin hadn’t even known her feet stepped within its boundaries until the explosion.

It had been a stupid mistake, and now Vaylin would pay for it in blood.

Sethali set down a few supplies on the table next to the chair Vaylin sat in. No one else would see to the wounds, still afraid of her temper, and Vaylin didn’t want the medical droids anywhere near her. Whatever she felt for Sethali now, at the very least, she would stem the blood from Vaylin’s wounds unflinchingly. In more ways than one, she already had.

Vaylin’s gaze finally shifted from the floor to the table of supplies Sethali had set out. A few damp rags, a set of tweezers, a bowl filled with water. Vaylin knew the shrapnel would hurt worse coming out than going in, but as she’d told Sethali already–it was only pain. And pain was fuel to become stronger.

Sethali silently pulled a second chair up to sit across from Vaylin and tapped the table with two fingers. “Arm up here.” she said, still quiet, and Vaylin’s gut twisted as she clenched her jaw and carefully rested her elbow on one of the damp rags Sethali had brought over. Vaylin had made a critical misstep, and Sethali was disappointed. She would do this one favor for Vaylin, then leave, and only the pain would remain.

“It’s going to hurt.” Sethali informed her.

“It’s only pain.” she repeated, but summoned the smallest twist to her lip that could almost be called a smile.

Sethali sighed, tweezers in hand, and slowly got to work. Each piece that came out was a sharp burst of pain before Sethali set her tweezers down and sprayed kolto over the small section she’d just divested of metal. Vaylin hissed, but kept her hand where Sethali held it still, and focused on the warm strength of the sniper’s fingers clutching her own.

Setting the kolto down, Sethali picked the tweezers back up, and continued.

Vaylin’s gaze, this time, focused on Sethali’s face as she worked. Brows knitted, lips downturned in a thoughtful scowl, and…

And her scanner was off. That was a surprise. Vaylin had scarcely seen Sethali without her holographic efficiency scanner in weeks. “Your scanner’s gone.” Vaylin remarked warily, afraid of another misstep.

Sethali glanced up from her work and a dry grin twitched at her lips. Vaylin’s heart raised. “The glare’s a bit bright for this kind of work.”

“And speaking of this work,” Vaylin tapped the fingers of her free hand, the uninjured one, on the table as well, “how did you come to know about treating injuries this well? You just know a bit of everything, don’t you?”

“I wouldn’t say I do it well.” Sethali said wryly, spraying another burst of kolto over another section of Vaylin’s arm, cleared of shrapnel. “But I know about shrapnel wounds well enough.”

Vaylin’s Force-burnt gaze zeroed in on the area normally obscured by Sethali’s scanner–the long-healed side of her face Vaylin had not dared ask about yet. Her hand reached up and, seemingly of its own accord, gently brushed the back of her fingers against the rough scarring. Sethali froze but let Vaylin continue, slowly relaxing her posture but setting the tweezers down. Vaylin squinted. “So I see you were no more agile in your time than I was today.”

Sethali huffed, and the strangely vulnerable moment passed. “I was but fourteen years old and had no real training in combat tactics, so I was hardly prepared for it.” Sethali’s hand, still holding Vaylin’s injured one, kept its grip as her free hand picked up a roll of kolto-lined bandages, carefully wrapping them over Vaylin’s tattooed forearm. “I don’t know how it’ll affect your tattoos.” Sethali added somberly, unaware of the full significance of Vaylin’s tattoos, but understanding enough.

Vaylin tightened her fingers– _don’t go, don’t leave me alone with the pain_ –and let Sethali’s warmer ones squeeze back. “I won’t mourn them.”

Sethali didn’t remove her hand, and their fingers rested together on the table for a short moment before Sethali got up to set the bowl–filled with pieces of shrapnel, choked with Vaylin’s blood–on the counter, where a medical droid would dispose of it.

“It should heal within a few days.” Sethali told Vaylin, stretching her shoulders. “The trick is to get them while the wounds are still mostly open. Something I learned the hard way. Hopefully yours won’t scar.”

“Oh, I’ve got my share of those.” Vaylin stretched her fingers, wincing when the newly-injured muscle was pulled. “What’s a few more?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!


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